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It has become another little trick in a coach’s arsenal. The kick that is launched down field, not with the intention of finding touch, but belted in the hope that it lands in a bloke’s bucket of chips in the first row behind the posts.

Kicking for field position is meant to be an art form, but now it has become yet another tactic employed to slow the game down and reduce the variables.

It makes complete sense.

If you’re in bad field position what is the point in trying to find some open space?

You have to charge down field, often with a disjointed defensive line, while trying to stop a rampaging fullback.

It’s much easier to just thump a kick towards the aforementioned chip consuming patron, take a breather and get the line set.

It’s not exactly thrilling viewing though is it?

The Dragons have used the tactic numerous times in the past.

Last night against the Knights, Jamie Soward did his best to make sure balls launched from his boot went over the head of the dangerous duo of Darius Boyd and Aku Uate.

The Dragons aren’t the only offenders. Most clubs are guilty of using the tactic.

The commission’s general manager of football operations Nathan McGuirk has been pretty efficient when it comes to changing rules that make the game worse.

Hopefully he was watching last night.

It reduces the chances of seeing Billy Slater or Matt Bowen slice through a scattered defensive line. That isn’t good for the game, or those all important television numbers.

Kickers need to be punished for what is effectively time wasting.

If the ball goes dead when kicked from inside the attacking teams own half the opposition should re-start their set on half way instead of the 20m line.

It would be interesting to see how many balls were kicked dead then.

At least then the bloke in the front row could enjoy his chips in peace.

The New South Wales State of Origin team for the 2018 series remains a mystery, with new coach Brad Fittler facing plenty of selection headaches. So we want you to tell us - and all your mates - who should start for Blues in Game 1 with our team picker.

The Crowd Says (29)

This tactic started about 4 years ago & has been used infrequently so why all the whinging, get over it, the defending team still get to tap it on the 20 mtrs and last night the attacking team only gained 15 to 20 mtrs on the kick, if the tactic is used then the defending team should drop back deeper, if you cannot read a game, then NRL is not the place for you, obviously the Dragons tactic was to get the knights wingers & fullback to drop back deeper to defend the kick, this would then open up more space to attack but the knights players were too smart for that to happen.

Bring back contested scrums again in rugby league. I think it was the worst descion rugby league made de-valuing scrums. I used to love ricky stuart launching big kicks , and then having a scrum. So yes bring back scrums and also make rugby league 7m per tackle not 10m , it is too tough and i miss the martin bella ,sam backo, steve roach, glen lazaruz type forwards. RUgby union ha smote body shapes all league players are like SBW now and that is not a good thing.

Yes, Michael Weyman looks just like SBW. 🙂
At the momment, apart from FuiFui MoiMoi, who is a newzealander, Weyman is my favorite front rower. The run he did against my Broncos last weekend was first class, he knocked one of our best young guns rotten, and also gave Peter Wallacea good beaten as well, all in the one tackle. He is like Jared Hargreaves, a real brute.
Rugby league does not need scrums, it is a waste of time, and once in a blue moon, while nobody is looking, a scrum is won against the feed and becomes like Folk law.
I seen one the other day and i never heard Vossy get so excited. 🙂

I dont think it will change the game, if your good enough, you can win games from 20 metre restarts surely.
I said not long ago, the game is close to perfect, the refs might deside to speed the game up , penalise for holding down or slowing the ball down, it is up to the refs, i think they have complete control of how fast, or how slow a game is played. As long as they are consistent, if we start a season off with slow play the balls, lets not get trigger happy half way through the season and speed it up, like the shoulder charge, we all need time to digest what we have seen, then common sense will prevail.

I think the game is extremely skillful, plus if you look at players, they are sweating like pigs, and they are all very skillful, not many make mistakes. The game looks good to me. Every team is desparate, and low scores and boring games are a result of this, so be it.

I now think it is up to players, if Benji, or the warriors want to chance their hand, or any team really, wants to chance their hand, throw the ball around, they had better have great skill, because mistakes are what win or lose you games.
I watched the Broncos last night, pretty much mistake free, a simple dropped ball can make the difference. These guys will be paid big money, so unless you have a young team and expect some mistakes, your senior players are what will win you games, if they play pecentage football, so be it, a win is a win, and 2 points is all important, once you hit the finals, its all on, for young and old, by then you should be ready for 80 minutes of high Octane.
Anyhow, that is how i see the game. I said 2 years ago, making the 8 is all important. You consider your season a success.
Anything past that is a bonus, look at the Broncos, make the fianls, home crowds, 50 thousand crowds. This is when the whips are cracking, the men are sorted from the boys.

The broncos should be drawing 50k every week considering everything they achieved since there existence it’s no excuses oikee, there membership and attendance should be way higher than it is. Being a one team town the Broncos got every advantage over everyone else, hell the QLD Reds got higher membership than the Bronx after one winning season seriously every the Lions got higher memberships. No excuses oikee since you’re Broncos supporter what’s the excuses?

I wonder how Broncos fan react when there team will go through consecutive losing seasons like the Cowboys will they stay or will they go they will sort out the true fan from the casual. The question is will you jump oikee to another code the moment Broncos get the wooden spoon.

50 k every week? mate they draw around 30 for most teams. And Brisbane also supports a strong Queensland cup comp.
Look, Brisbane will be getting another team, probably Ipswich. They are on the direct line to Suncorp. It will begin a rivalry unrilvalled in Australian sport. It is a true derby.
I dont know what your trying to say. You think Origin is not basically Queenslanders birthright. Look, no other code is close to what rugby league is to Queenslanders. It is a religion taught in schools. the schools that dont teach it are frowned upon. 🙁
Dont mess with Queenslanders, you mess with the whole family. 🙂

What most people don’t realise is that the 20 tap is actually an optional kick. The person taking the kick can use whatever style of kick they want for that, be it a place kick, tap kick, drop kick, drop punt etc. that is a potentially massive tactical advantage for the team taking the optional restart, but practically no one uses it. Imagine… Jarrod Mullen, instead of taking a tap, kicks a high ball to the wing for Akuila Uate to run on to at full speed. Jarryd Hayne or Jamie Soward both have huge boots on them – instead of running to the 20 and tapping, they run to the 20 and launch a huge drop punt that bounces over the touch line 50 metres up-field – automatic scrum feed to your team, what a massive advantage and what a twist to a game that would be; defences would have to be on their guard all the time.

They should ban it as its a negative on the game. Why should we see the likes of Slater’s & Co of this world penalised. If it goes dead then the attacking team get 8 tackles instead of 6 from the ensuing tap restart. If it is an attacking kick made within the 22 then it shouldn’t be penalised and normal restart rules apply.
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🙁 how are you going to penilise it, a 20 metre tap restart. hahahha, you guys are really funny, and like Newton said, every action has a re-action.
This already has a 20 metre restart option, what you want, a 50 metre restart, come on, lets just face it, your team is weak, you are following weak cattle if you cant compete, or ring up your coach and tell him to do the same, kick it dead. Come on, stop making excuses. its really sad. Hehe, did i tell ya my Bronx are powerhouses, oh boy, gee we lost another fan. 🙂

Look, Bellamy is a super coach, maybe your coach is a dill, you might wait or want for a better or greater coach. The knights paid a fortune for Bennett, simple, he is a good coach.
If i followed the Knightas, win or lose, i know our team is in good hands.